Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains

Day 1: The tour begins at 6 pm this evening in Barranquilla. Night in Barranquilla.  

Day 2: We’ll begin in the wetlands east of Barranquilla. After crossing the wide Magdalena River, we’ll stop at an extensive marsh the exotic Brown-throated Parakeet, Straight-billed Woodcreeper and Yellow-chinned Spinetail occur together with Limpkin, Wattled Jacana and the rare Dwarf Cuckoo. The noisy Stripe-backed Wren is usually obvious, the omnipresent Red-crowned Woodpecker peeks from its holes in the palm trees, and the stunning Russet-throated Puffbird is sometimes seen in the open hunting large insects and lizards. 

After a few hours of birding in this mix of shrubs and wetlands, we’ll drive to the Isla Salamanca National Park for a short walk in the shade of the mangroves. This rich habitat always attracts interesting birds, including Bicolored Conebill, Red-rumped Woodpecker, and with some luck the stunning Pied Puffbird. 

By now it will be hot so we’ll retreat to our cool vehicle and drive toward Santa Marta and then Riohacha, stopping for lunch on the way. In the afternoon, just before arriving in Riohacha, we’ll explore a semi-arid part of the Los Flamencos National Park. The thorny and almost leafless vegetation here hosts an amazing selection of beautiful species. One of the most striking is the White-whiskered Spinetail, but the competition is stiff as other amazing birds occur as well, including Vermilion Cardinal, Orinocan Saltator, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Chestnut Piculet and Trinidad Euphonia. Night in Riohacha. 

Day 3: We’ll bird the thornscrub surrounding the village of Camarones, accompanied by our guide from the local Wayuu community. This is the most arid part of the Los Flamencos reserve and supports species we may still need, perhaps including the range restricted Tocuyo Sparrow, Slender-billed Tyrannulet (or Inezia), Rufous-vented Chachalaca or Buffy Hummingbird. 

In the afternoon we’ll drive toward the splendid Tayrona National Park, arriving early enough to relax in our lodge on the shore of the Caribbean Sea. In the late afternoon, we’ll offer a choice between more birding or perhaps a swim, if surf conditions allow, from a lovely white sand beach. Night near Palomino. 

Day 4: Tayrona is both beautiful and relaxing, and it’s great birding. We’ll spend the morning looking for Cocoa Woodcreeper, Lance-tailed Manakin, Southern Bentbill, White-chinned Sapphire, and White-necked Puffbird, among others. We even have a chance of finding the extremely rare and endangered Blue-billed Curassow. During our morning’s walk through the forests of the national park, we’ll also be looking for mammals, including Colombian Red Howler and a Tayrona specialty, Cotton-top Tamarin. 

After lunch we’ll drive towards the village of Minca in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. On the way, we’ll look especially for the restricted-range Black-backed Antshrike, but also Pale-eyed Pygmy-tyrant, Chestnut-capped Warbler, Panama Flycatcher, and Bicolored Wren.  With some luck we might even find a flock of Military Macaw, and the bright red morph of Red-tailed Squirrel would be a brilliant addition to our mammal list. Night above Minca. 

Day 5: We’ll bird all morning around the charming little village of Minca. Its location at the intersection of arid habitat, coffee plantation, and the first patches of humid forest helps explain why it holds so many interesting species. Our main targets will include Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Golden-winged Sparrow, Scaled Piculet, Rufous-and-white and Rufous-breasted Wrens, Swallow Tanager, Keel-billed Toucan and our first Santa Marta endemic, the Foliage-gleaner!  

We’ll have lunch at a countryside hotel where, after some great food and while we sip an after-lunch cup of Colombian coffee, we’ll be distracted by wonderful birds possibly including Steely-vented Hummingbird, White-vented Plumeleteer, Crimson-backed Tanager and Buff-throated Saltator coming to the feeders. When we run out of time at the feeders and on the hotel grounds, we’ll begin our drive toward the Mountain House Lodge. The last part of the road is rough and high-clearance four-wheel vehicles are necessary to reach the lodge. Night at Mountain House Lodge. 

Days 6-7: The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain massif that rises directly from the Caribbean up to about 18,700 feet. Around 30 range-restricted species occur in these mountains, and we have good chance of seeing more than 20 of them! There are also many endemic subspecies, reflecting colonization, then differentiation, from the main Andean chain. 

We’ll stay at Mountain House Lodge run by a local family. It’s a magical place where you can have a drink on the terrace overlooking a fantastic garden with a fine array of bird feeders and an impressive view of the Caribbean coast. Among others, we’ll be alert for Santa Marta Brushfinch, Black-hooded Tanager, Crowned Woodnymph, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Black-chested Jay, and perhaps the star, the Santa Marta Blossomcrown.  

Away from the lodge we’ll use our 4x4 vehicles to visit higher elevations along the San Lorenzo ridge, the home of Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Warbler, Santa Marta Bush-tyrant, and Brown-rumped Tapaculo. In the mixed species flocks, we may find a few Black-cheeked Mountain-Tanager, Yellow-crowned Whitestart, Rusty-headed Spinetail, and the handsome Black-capped Tyrannulet. We’ll also pay special attention to the hummingbirds as we have chance of seeing Mountain Velvetbreast, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Santa Marta Woodstar and the endemic subspecies of Tyrian Metaltail. 

At lower elevations, we might find the stunning White-tipped Quetzal not far away from Golden-breasted Fruiteater, as well as Santa Marta Tapaculo, White-lored Warbler, Black-hooded Thrush, and the superb Rusty-breasted Antpitta. Nights at Mountain House Lodge. 

Day 8: Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave our wonderful mountain home and drive back to Barranquilla. On the way, we’ll have a full morning to bird in the Santa Marta foothills, covered by patches of shade-grown coffee and rainforest, looking for any last species we may be missing. Among common Crested Oropendola, Bay-headed Tanager and Scarlet-fronted Parakeet, we’ll have a great chance to find our last Santa Marta endemic, the Antbird, as well as Yellow-backed Oriole, Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush, and Spectacled Tyrannulet. We’ll arrive in Barranquilla in the late afternoon. Night in Barranquilla.  

Day 9: The tour concludes this morning in Barranquilla. 

2026 Narrative

In Brief: Is there a better way to escape the boreal winter than by spending a week in the tropics, enjoying the wonderful Caribbean food, staying in fantastic lodges, and seeing around 300 bird species?! Well, that’s what we did on our Santa Marta tour, and believe me… we really enjoyed it! 

The Sierra Nevada Cordillera and the Guajira Peninsula are home to an amazing list of restricted-range species, and we had excellent views of (just to name a few Vermilion Cardinal, White-whiskered Spinetail, Chestnut Piculet, Buffy Hummingbird, Orinocan Saltator, White-lored Warbler, Black-backed Antshrike and a long list of “Santa Marta” species, such as Santa Marta Blossomcrown, Antbird, Tapaculo, Antpitta, Woodstar or Brushfinch! 

In addition to these very local species, we also enjoyed encounters with Northern White-fringed Antwren, the lovely Blue-naped Chlorophonia coming to fruit feeders, close views of a beautiful Rosy Thrush-Tanager, the charismatic Russet-throated Puffbird, a beautiful male Golden-breasted Fruiteater, no less than four Dwarf Cuckoos and many more interesting sightings.  Besides birds we also enjoyed an endless list of butterflies and moths, nice reptiles including good views of Green Iguana, and a few mammals such as Colombian Red Howler, Santa Marta Yellow-fronted Capuchin and Cotton-top Tamarin at Tayrona and the extremely rarely seen Speckled Tree Rat! 

This tour was also notable for the accommodations, with amazing hummingbird feeders at Minca and Mountain House Lodge attracting dozens of these stunning and colorful birds. And last but not least, the meals were really fantastic, and we all enjoyed the tasty Caribbean food, especially the fried red snapper and shrimp rice! 

In Detail: The group met in the evening for an introductory meeting, followed by our first delicious meal of Caribbean cuisine – what better introduction to the tour!  

For our first birding day we had an early departure to the Universidad Del Norte grounds for a quick stop to look for our first restricted-range species of the tour, the Chestnut-winged Chachalaca. The area is unfortunately threatened by recent construction, but we got excellent views of several chachalacas, as well as several groups of Brown-throated Parakeet, our first Black-chested Jays and Yellow-headed Caracaras and a pair of Saffron Finches. On our way out of the city, we stopped briefly along the Magdalena River, one of the most important Colombian rivers, finding a Northern Screamer standing in the floating vegetation, as well as a few Large-billed Terns, and a Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture soaring close, together with dozens of migrant (Northern) Turkey Vultures.  

We then headed towards the agricultural fields and wetlands at Palermo for some early morning birding, enjoying the still “cool” temperatures. Palermo is a wonderful birding area, and we saw about 50 species of birds in just an hour and a half:  the Colombian endemic Turquoise-winged Parrotlet, beautiful Russet-throated Puffbirds perched close in the open, family groups of Stripe-backed Wrens, great views of both Yellow-chinned Spinetail and Straight-billed Woodcreeper, the splendid Pied Water-Tyrant, common Red-crowned Woodpeckers and a pair of Spot-breasted Woodpecker, no less than four of the rare and local Dward Cuckoo staying for a while atop some small trees, Bare-faced and Glossy Ibises side-by-side, Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, a pair of the cute Black-crested Antshrike and many waterbirds including Wattled Jacana, Solitary Sandpiper, Snail Kite, Limpkin, Green Kingfisher, Little Blue Heron and many more! We could have spent all day here, but several other birding spots were waiting for us during our drive towards Riohacha.  

We stopped at a nice restaurant for a great ‘shrimp rice’ while Palm Tanagers were prospecting the palm roof of the building. Mid-afternoon, we arrived at the village of Camarones where we met Johny, our local guide from the Wayuu community. Birding the dry shrubland along the old access road to the village, we found two pairs of the beautiful Northern White-fringed Antwren, the stunning White-whiskered Spinetail, a lovely male of Trinidad Euphonia, the fancy Bare-eyed Pigeon, a female Red-billed Emerald, our first Glaucous Tanager and Tropical Gnatcatchers, Pale-tipped Tyrannulet and Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant. In a nearby field, we also spotted a pair of Double-striped Thick-knees resting in the shade of short trees, as well as a family of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and a distant Great Blue Heron. 

To end the day nicely, we went to the estuary of a huge coastal lagoon, where amongst hundreds of Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns and Black Skimmers, we spotted a Caspian and a few Sandwich Terns, 40+ Willets, a few Hudsonian Whimbrels, five Black-bellied Plovers, two American Oystercatchers, a Red Knot and a few Ruddy Turnstones, but also White Ibises, Reddish Egrets and more! But the stars of the evening had to be the four American Flamingoes, arriving in flight and landing not very far from the shore! Or maybe the small group of the cute and tiny Green-rumped Parrotlets seen close? We finished our journey with a delicious dinner in Riohacha. 

After a nice breakfast at Johny’s mom’s house, we spent the whole next morning birding the dry scrubland and forest found on the Guajira Peninsula, enjoying great views of several restricted-range species like Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Slender-billed Tyrannulet and Chestnut Piculet! Other interesting species here included Shining-green Hummingbird, Blue-crowned Parakeet, Fulvous-crowned Scrub-Tyrant, Olive-gray Saltator, Gray Kingbird and Orange-crowned Oriole! We even concluded our morning with a fantastic and prolonged view of a Tocuyo Sparrow perched atop a small bush for a long time! 

We wrapped up our morning at a local garden where the owner feeds birds, attracting the mega-beautiful Vermillion Cardinal, a pair of Orinocan Saltators, Black-faced Grassquits, Pileated Finches, Yellow Oriole, Red-crowned Woodpeckers, Tropical Mockingbirds and even a Buffy Hummingbird! We then drove on to our very comfortable hotel just by the Caribbean Sea. We arrived for lunch and enjoyed a wonderful grilled Red Snapper and our choice of Lulo juice or Coconut Lemonade. 

When temperature dropped down (a bit) in the afternoon, we did some birding in a nearby patch of dry forest, where we found Thick-billed Euphonia, Crimson-backed Tanager, White-chinned Sapphire, Buff-breasted Wren (numerous by voice), Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Forest Elaenia, Long-billed Gnatwren, Prothonotary Warbler and more! We also had fantastic views of a family of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers. We couldn’t have ended the day better than we did, with a succulent dinner in front of the Caribbean Sea, and a peaceful night at our lovely accommodation. 

After an early start the next morning, we reached the entrance of Tayrona NP where we met up with our local guide Danilso. The tall secondary growth forest here attracts lots of interesting species but the most common one, at least by voice, was Buff-breasted Wren. We saw a very long list of birds this morning including very good looks at Black-crowned Antshrike, a lovely pair of White-bellied Antbird, Bright-rumped Attila, Lance-tailed and White-bearded Manakin, White-chinned Sapphire, Cocoa and Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Purple Honeycreeper and Blue Dacnis side-by-side, Pale-bellied Hermit, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Brown-capped Tyrannulet, Ruddy-tailed and Sepia-capped Flycatchers. We also had several North American migrants including Great-crested Flycatcher, Bay-breasted and Chestnut-sided Warbler. We even scored scope views of a Great Potoo at its day roost! 

After lunch we headed towards Santa Marta, where we switched vehicles for three land-rovers, and started our drive up towards Minca and our countryside hotel where we arrived mid-afternoon. There, we enjoyed a relaxed afternoon, birding the terrace with feeders and the nearby grounds, finding the beautiful Chestnut-capped Warbler (a recent split from Rufous-capped Warbler), the electric-blue Swallow Tanager, a beautiful Golden-winged Sparrow, Lineated and Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, a male Gartered Violaceous Trogon, a pair of Orange-chinned Parakeet at the entrance of their nesting cavity, a pair of Masked Tityra, a Plumbeous Kite, a nice pair of Northern Tropical Pewee, Streak-headed Woodcreeper and dozens of Scarlet-fronted Parakeet flying towards their night roost. We also found quite a few more North American migrants, such as Tennessee Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Summer Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 

The next day, we spent the whole morning birding the upper part of Minca, mostly in shade grown coffee plantation and patches of dry forest. This habitat really attracts boreal migrants, and we added Broad-winged Hawks and American Redstart to the species seen the previous day. Of course, plenty of resident species were seen alongside these migrants, such as the lovely Black-headed Tanager, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Scaled Piculet, Black-chested Jay, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, Golden-crowned Warbler, Sooty-headed and Golden-faced Tyrannulet, two Band-tailed Guans and a pair of the well-named Dull-colored Grassquit. We had fantastic views of the super-beautiful Keel-billed Toucan, perched in the same dead tree as three Scaled Pigeons and a Lineated Woodpecker, and even got to photograph the superb and hard-to-see Rosy Thrush-Tanager. 

We had an excellent view of a Solitary Eagle soaring above (a rarely seen species here!) and a Gray-lined Hawk flew past us at eye-level. We also started our list of endemics of the Sierra Nevada cordillera, with many names starting with ‘Santa-Marta’ or ‘Sierra Nevada’, having fantastic views of Santa-Marta Antbirds and hearing a few Santa Marta Foliage-gleaners. We enjoyed repeated views of Bay-headed (Bay-and-green) Tanager (possible future split!)  

After lunch, we began the drive towards Mountain House Lodge where we stayed three nights. On the way we stopped at a lovely garden, to enjoy a cup of the local coffee but also to watch the flowers attracting both Santa Marta Woodstar and Santa Marta Blossomcrown, as well as White-sided and Rusty Flowerpiercers, and the feeders attracting Sierra-Nevada and Santa Marta Brushfinches, Black-capped Tanager and Purple Honeycreeper. A pair of Streak-capped Spinetail was also seen very well, carrying nesting material. After check-in, we enjoyed the lodge garden for the rest of the day, finding and amazing quantity of birds: impressive numbers of Lesser Violetears and Crowned Woodnymphs, up to 20 Blue-naped Chlorophonia coming to the fruit feeders, regularly joined by Pale-breasted Thrush, White-lined and Black-capped Tanagers, as well as Yellow-legged Thrush, Yellow-backed Oriole and a beautiful male of Rose-breasted Grosbeak. What an amazing beginning and wonderful introduction to the next birding days we would have in the Sierra Nevada! 

We had two full days to explore the different elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, looking for the endemic species living in this isolated range. On our first day, we mostly explored the upper part, leaving at 4:00am and driving by night from the lodge to the San Lorenzo ridge. As soon as we arrived up there, we found a pair of Santa Marta Parakeet, and then checked out a feeding station visited by a pair of Santa Marta Antpitta coming very close and offering a great photographic opportunity. We then had our field breakfast enjoying a spectacular view of the cordillera. Spending the whole morning in the patch of forest and chusquea bamboo, we found several Black-cheeked Mountain Tanagers, a pair of the rare and recently split Carriker’s Mountain-Tanager, a female White-tailed Hillstar, a male of Black-backed Thornbill, and a pair of Hermit Wood-Wren, together with Streak-capped Spinetails, Yellow-crowned Redstart and Black Flowerpiercers. We had a fantastic look at a pair of Southern (Santa Marta) Emerald Toucanet feeding in a fruiting tree just by the road-side, and also found Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant, Mountain Elaenia, White-throated Tyrannulet, Blackburnian Warblers and Montane Woodcreeper – what a morning! 

Back at the lodge for lunch and an afternoon break, we had plenty of time to enjoy the garden and the feeders. During a short evening walk from the lodge, we observed a close Gray-throated Leaftosser, a few Black-hooded Thrush together with Yellow-legged and White-necked Thrushes, Slaty Antwren, Montane Foliage-Gleaner and even had good looks at Santa Marta Tapaculo. 

We spent our second morning at El Dorado, birding the “road” between the lodge and the San Lorenzo biological station. Besides the species already contacted the previous day, we had excellent views of a Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Black-capped Tyrannulet, Tyrian (Santa Marta) Metaltail, Masked Trogon, Strong-billed and Black-banded Woodcreepers, a pair of the colorful Cinnamon Flycatcher and Golden-bellied Flycatcher. 

After a lunch at the lodge, enjoying the fantastic view, we had a productive afternoon walk in the forest, starting with a good view of White-tipped Quetzal, followed by an excellent sighting of a male Golden-breasted Fruiteater, and even a Lined Wood-Quail showed well! We stayed on the road until dusk, waiting for owls, but after a long effort we only heard Santa Marta Screech-Owl. 

After such a nice time here, it was hard to leave Mountain House lodge and its lovely owners, Kelly and Tonio. Making a few stops on the way to Minca we got good views on Rusty-breasted Antpitta, and also found Golden-faced Tyrannulet, Brown-capped Vireo and a cute pair of Rufous-breasted Wren. A highlight was a group of 13 Military Macaws flying overhead -- stunning! Before lunch we also stopped to enjoy great views on a male Black-backed Antshrike, and then enjoyed our meal in front of hummingbird feeders attracting White-necked Jacobin, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, White-vented Plumeleteer, Steely-vented Hummingbird and even a Rufous-breasted Hermit. After lunch near Minca, we headed towards Isla Salamanca NP, where we stayed just long enough to find a Red-rumped Woodpecker, a lovely Pied Puffbird, a pair of Bicolored Conebill, a few Green Herons and a beautiful male Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird. 

And with that fantastic tour concluded the same way it began, with a fabulous dinner at a great Caribbean restaurant near our hotel.

-          Fabrice Schmitt 

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